The End of the World as You Know It: What the Bible Really Says about the End Times (And Why It’s Good News)

Growing up, it always rang dissonant that we’d be told to “fear not” throughout the Bible, and then have that very same Bible end on a horrifying cliffhanger! Worse, doom and gloom and destruction and trial and tribulation could happen at any minute, and whew boy it’s gonna be awful! To add to the dissonance, if I went and asked questions, I would be met with non-answer answers (“His ways aren’t our ways,” etc…). In his book, Dr. Halsted makes the convincing case, based on scripture, that there is a much more sensical, understandable, and hopeful way to interpret the end that will certainly help further your understanding of the Bible and draw you closer to God. I am so glad to have read this book. It’s worth your time.

Growing up in the modern evangelical world I experienced quite a bit of spiritual abuse in my understanding of the end times. Fear tactics disguised as biblical prophecy sustained the “left behind rapture” movement. For much of my early faith life I lived in fear of the end times.By the grace of God over the past five years I have been introduced to incredible thinkers like Tim Mackie from the BibleProject and NT Wright who have helped correct this misperception and bring me a renewed hope.This book from author Matthew Halsted stands right in line with these awesome scholars and is a powerful work. This book is designed to show that we have nothing to fear when it comes to the end. As the author so eloquently lands you in the comfort of understanding that the end is actually just the beginning and it is much closer than we think👀🔔👀Buy this book for yourself and then also buy it for your Pastor. Ask him to digest it with you and trust that I’ll be praying the Lord brings you the same hope that he brought me through this awesome book!-RING THEM BELLS

This is a well presented book, written to the non-scholar, everyday Christian but with all the footnotes, references and indexes to backup the debate. This book helped quell many anxieties and link many dots to encourage this reader. Is it the final explanation of end times? NO! It’s the encouragement to question what you’ve been taught, and blindly accepted sitting in the pew, to read the text yourself and put yourself into the 1st century worldview environment to understand the pretense of the audience.

Every Christian that is interested in "The End Times" should read this book!Matt Halsted provides a really helpful, clear, accessible book here, on a very challenging topic where there is an abundance of wild speculation and disagreement. Matt is solidly grounded in Scripture, and he cuts through a lot of confusion and hype - helping people focus on the core messages of the last book of the Scriptures.Jesus is King. We can trust Him in the midst of trials and hardships. God will fully accomplish His plans. Our part is to remain focused on Christ, and to serve Him as best we can in this life.

I just can't stand Kindle. Every time I unconsciously try to scroll, as on every other page I view on this tablet, that thing turns the page. Concentration lost as I go back and find where I was. Three or four times of that and I'm done. Shoulda known better.What next? I'll delete Kindle untill I am enticed by an interesting title again. I'll reinstall, then remember someone at Kindle simply doesn't care what the customer wants and uninstall yet again.Ah, well. My fault. They've told me to shove off for years. Way too late to feign surprise now. Perhaps someday I'll learn.Buy the real book. (At a bookstore would be best, really. Why reward them for being jerks?) Avoid the crippleware.

I grew up, like many western evangelical Christians, living in absolute fear of the end times. The horror stories of what was to come and what I might experience due to being a Christian left me fearful of even reading The Book of Revelation. I’ve been a Christian for almost 30 years, but had avoided even reading Revelation until 5 years ago.Thankfully, over those 5 years, God has used teachers in my life and authors like Dr. Halsted to remove my fear. Dr. Halsted’s book, The End of the World as You Know It, helps readers to evaluate their view on the end times. He eloquently and effectively puts Revelation back where it belongs… as a letter written in the 1st century, to 1st century churches. By helping readers to change their view, Halsted brings a message of hope rather than a message of fear to the end times.The End of the World as You Know It provides insight into many End Times hot topics: the Mark of the Beast, the Great Tribulation, the Rapture, the Antichrist… all of which may not be quite what you’ve thought they are.I highly recommend putting your preconceived notions aside and reading this book. I have a feeling you may come to the conclusion that the end times and Revelation aren’t quite as confusing or scary as we think!

I was raised as a Dispensationalist (non-negotiable) and was connected to Matthew Halsted through the Naked Bible Podcast by the late Micheal Heiser. Matt did a Romans series a couple years ago on Michael’s podcast and then filled in for Michael on 1 Samuel after he died. Heiser already had planted questions in my mind on dispensationalism, but Matt’s new book added fuel to that fire. Matt is very gracious in his challenge of dispensationalism, primarily related to the rapture of the Church to heaven for 7 years. Matt discusses all the scriptures used to support a rapture to heaven model and very effectively points out incorrect hermeneutics espoused by us dispensationalists. Matt also very effectively addresses other eschatological issues like the Antichrist, the mark of the beast, and the tribulation. Finally, and again, Matt is very gracious in presenting his eschatological views that may conflict with yours or mine, but this book should be a “must read” of any open-minded evangelical Christian seeking the truth in eschatology. As prophesies of the first coming of Jesus to earth were intentionally vague, so are the details of his second coming! I also highly recommend Matt’s podcast “The Bible Unmuted”.

I just finished first 4 chapters and I am already so overwhelmed to write this reivew. Clear, thoughtful and Solid scholarship. Never thought the concepts like the "Mark of the Beast" was so simple and I am saddened by all the speculations served to the congregation as the "Word of God". I am filled with anger that so many our own well meaning teachers and pastors have led the congregation astray and instead of presenting the book of Revelation as it is that is "a Joyful Hope and confidence" in the midst of trials and tribulation. Our teachers have made our congregation coward who live in fear of the "Beast" and "Mark of the Beast".Breakdown-1. Rev 2:13 where Satan has his throne... where Satan lives. This is refering to Pergamum. Matt does an amazing job giving the ancient context of this city and how the original audience of Revelation could directly identify Pergamum as the city where Satan has his throne and where Satan lives.2. Identifying the two Beasts of Revelation 133. Identifying the "Mark of the beast"4. Debunking the Rapture theology5. How the original writer & reader of the New Testament understood the term Tribulation6. Great job of explaning Tribulation in Matt 247. Logic of Prophecy in Ch 5 is worth paying for this book8. Actual meaning of the word "Anti" in Anti-Christ is a game changerFinally finished it cover to cover. Outstanding book and really an eye opener.This is a must for anyone who wants to dive into this crazy topic.

"End Times" - same words but different meanings, hence the confusing fractious among Christians. Matthew L. Halsted's "The End of the world as you know it" is a useful book. It perscribes the METHODOLOGY to better equips us toward concrete clarity to what the TEXT (Scripture) is saying and the intent of the writers in the Canon, particularly in Revelation.In the mid 90s I was serving the persecuted house churches in communist countries of the East, the NT and Revelation in particular, became real experiences of the two Beasts - the Deceiving Serpent & the Devouring Dragon but the most satisfying awesome experience was the Presence of God and the supernatural graced Christians in the heavily persecuted house churches. Don't fear, YWEH is in charge, we just have to be on the right side...His side!Over the years of visual note taking which I attached herein, indicates Jesus the Lord's exhortation to His People "Don't Give In, Don't Give Up", to His Priests (His Army) "Purifications through Persecution", to His Princes (Co heirs) "Creator & Creatures - Two Shall be One" (Eph 5:31-32). To those arguing about the Final Hour of the End Time...it is all about the Journey. The Journey is your reward. If you don't, why talk about when, where and how the journey ends?